Olive Oil Teff Banana Bread (Superstition: A Bird in The House)

This morning a bird flew into the house, landed on my slipper and left. Nothing good can come of this. I'd JUST started my day--it was the crack of dawn for crying out loud. And yet. This bird. There was a loud screeching and what seemed to be a little ruckus going on between this irate cardinal and two smaller sparrows (were they? I have no idea). Since February--this cardinal has found several windows around our home offensive--slamming himself into his reflection with such regularity that I have actually begun to ignore him or simply get through the day oblivious to his C-R-A-Z-Y. 

I'd realized a bird had landed on my slipper when, at the door and still inside, I stared outside. . . looking for an ending to this aggression before letting one of our dogs out. She sat still, waiting for Mommy to give the "all clear". The fighting and flying all over the place had stopped and the birds seemed to have disappeared. I still had the door slightly ajar. Then I looked down and that's when I saw it. The bird had landed on my slipper   . . . inside the doorway. It nearly sent me off the rails for a moment. I began assessing the best way to handle this--our girl canine hadn't noticed (thank god, can you imagine?!). Meanwhile, the bird, while quite stunned himself (herself?) was sort of taking a break having dodged the cardinal, but not yet realized, had NOT dodged the human. With ninja grace, I swung the door as wide open as I could, lifted my foot up and out flew the bird. Wow. 

Now I wait. Something will happen. It might not happen today . . . or tomorrow. But it will happen. It shook me to my core--this bird encounter. And for those unfamiliar with the "superstition" of what follows when a bird enters your home--I won't speak of it in this blog. Just Google. You'll see. 

Last week I found a cookbook in the Kindle store for around six dollars (a steal!) that I'd had my eye on for quite some time but never seemed to actually bring home with me (I know, I'm shocked, too): The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. I got to know Ed by way of his movie, How to Cook Your Life. Dr. Thyme and I rented this lovely documentary about two years back. I recall we loved the film I won't go into the details of it much here but only say that while it is very much a foodie film, it is also a film that brings food creation and kitchen life into very sharp focus. There's baking in it, too. Edward Espe is a Zen Buddhist. Buddhists rock. (They wouldn't think that of themselves, of course.) 

I love this book and began reading it from the very beginning as soon as I'd downloaded it. I'd really like to get my own hard copy of  it as well. But I digress. Why banana bread? With the now nearly all-black bananas staring at me every time I poked my head into the fridge, I thought, Bake Something Banana-ish Already! 

The first line of the description of the Banana-Nut Bread in the TBB sold me on giving this recipe a try (and my own spin): This bread has a higher proportion of banana pulp than most. To keep in the realm of a really banana-y and moist, but protein and grain-laden bread, I decided to incorporate Teff flour and make it a Teff Banana Bread. So glad I did. 

I've had a slice of this bread every morning with my oatmeal now for two weeks. I cut the loaf in half, freezing the second half because I didn't want the bread to dry out as I made my way through eating the first half. This bread recipe is a keeper. Adding the teff flour really gave the bread a wonderful, nutty, but moist and chewy goodness that has left me full for the better half of each day. Teff has a higher protein content and contains more germ and bran than some other grains, lending itself to my dietary requirements of eating a really whole-grainy kind of diet, keeping myself feeling full (and holding off a little longer) before diving head first into the jar of peanuts and M&Ms I have sitting next to the kitchen sink for "emergencies".

If you use Teff, or want to try it in another recipe, sub 1/4 cup of flour for each full cup of flour of either whole wheat or unbleached all-purpose. I love happy ending baking experiments.

Yummy. Super moist.

This is a Mississippi Kite. Bird of prey. I took this photo yesterday afternoon--during our first day of rain in nearly a month! It was a welcome change from all this crazy sunshine we'd endured. (It's in my Midwestern blood to crave, even miss dark, rain-soaked, stormy days like the one we enjoyed here yesterday.) You probably can't tell in this photo (sorry!)--this bird sports a black mask around its eyes. Thus, my personal moniker for them is: "Batman Birds".  This is their second year with us.   

Olive Oil Teff Banana Bread

(*Adapted from the Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown)

1/2 cup teff flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer 

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (splurge on some good stuff--it's worth it for this bread) 

1/2 cup sugar

3 medium, "very" ripe bananas or about 2 cups (mashed up with a fork, but leave some chunks for more flavor)

1/4 cup water

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

some freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9 x 5" loaf pan with nonstick spray. (I used a metal loaf pan for my bread vs. glass.) First, mash your bananas up and set aside. In another medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, egg replacer, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest. In another bowl, stir together with a spoon the olive oil, water, sugar and bananas until the mixture is fairly well blended--it will be chunky because of the banana in it, but just give it a good couple of turns with a large spoon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three additions--stirring with a fork after each addition to incorporate the two. The batter will be somewhat smooth, but still may have some lumps--that's okay. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake the bread for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan, and allow to finish cooling on a wire cooling rack. Store bread wrapped well and in the fridge. You may freeze half the loaf for later.